Here’s my comment on the women riding bike blog discussion (http://streetsblog.net/2011/06/22/cycling-whats-holding-women-back/):

All good ideas as to what hinders women from cycling, but speaking as a
51 year old woman who cycles, but not as much as I’d like, I can add
some other reasons that may be stronger (ones that hinted
about in the blog):

1) Women do take on more of the
responsibility of childcare chores, which as you’ve pointed out does
include multiple trips and transporting children to their various needs.

2) There are more women raising children alone, so they alone must deal
with all the kids needs including transporting them from one end of town
to the other and being there for them while they sleep etc.

Once
my son was old enough to feel confident riding his bike, we both biked
to school and work. I cycle to work and sponge bath, but some folks
wouldn’t want to do that. I’m lucky that I live where there are many
bike lanes and paths that work into my route (Tucson), but there is also
traffic–just hones my skills.

The major problem for me, as a
single mother, is balancing the responsibilities of motherhood with my
desire to ride. Those 6 and 7am recreational rides just don’t work–who
will look after the kid? (It’s hard to get a sitter at that hour plus I
can’t afford to pay one that often, and I don’t feel comfortable leaving
him alone asleep in the house–he just turned 11.)

In the
summer when it is over 100 degrees every day, my son’s camp is 8 hilly
miles from our house to the east and my work is 8 miles to the southwest
from my house. But it just takes too much time (including cleaning up
and dressing) and
is just a bit too many hilly miles to do the whole thing as a commute
in this heat. The camps start later and end earlier than school days so
your
work day is already compromised. At the beginning of June, we did ride
to his camp and I rode back home on the days I could work at home (and
in the hot afternoon picked him and the bike up with the car), but
because he is out in the heat running around all day, now he no longer
wants to do even the morning ride. So, when do I fit in a ride? Weekends
would work if it wasn’t hotter than Hades by 8am–kids sleep in on the
weekend!

So, a big part of women’s issues in cycling isn’t just
about the traffic or looks, but rather logistics and responsibility. I
guess money could fit into it–to cover childcare or a chauffeur!

Oops! Thanks for the heads up. How did I miss that?